


I Won't Say I'm In Love

by Pikachunicorn



Category: Free!
Genre: Ai in adorable little brother mode, First Kiss, Fluff, Haru being a perfect little enigma, M/M, Rin being stubborn as hell, Sousuke and Momo being idiots, post races kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:51:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2458844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikachunicorn/pseuds/Pikachunicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Haru surprises everyone and kisses Rin during joint training one day, Nitori and Rin discuss the pair's relationship and how Rin feels for the blue-eyed enigma.</p><p>**Set somewhere during Eternal Summer, I guess.**</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Won't Say I'm In Love

**Author's Note:**

> A RinHaru fanfic inspired by a Disney song? Oh, yes. This is happening. Can we say Megsuoka and Harucules? Yes? Okay. Perfect. x'D
> 
> This isn't meant to be perfect, just wrote it this morning at 2am, listening to this song on repeat (which is surprisingy not that annoying) when I needed some fluff.
> 
> Anyway, I get that some of you might see Haru's actions as a little out of character, maybe. But y'know, it's Haru. The shit he does never makes sense, but we love him.

Rin sat at the edge of the pool at Samezuka Academy. A tiny smile played out on his lips and his eyes ran over smooth trails of stars that sparkled so perfectly on the water, shining in through the huge, panorama windows that framed the very top of each wall.

He leant back on his hands, his left leg dangling mindlessly in the water. Wearing just his swimwear and his track jacket (which he hadn't even bothered to zip up, allowing the sleeve to fall from his left shoulder and gather mid-way down his arm), he felt the cool air that filled the large room tickle his skin.

The moonlight that filtered through the windows seemed to highlight and accentuate the obvious in infatuation that flittered over his eyes.

Sighing peacefully, he lifted a hand and swatted playfully at the water, chuckling to himself. Now, as he watched the stars bob over the soft, subtle waves that smoothed over the pool, he began to possibly understand Haru's obsession with the stuff. His smile grew at the thought. _Haru_.

 _Dammit, Nanase_. He thought, smirking a little at the absurdity of his feelings. _Why do you have to be such an addictive piece of perfection?_

It was strange for Rin to note that from where he sat, he could see the exact spot where every dream he had maintained since the age of twelve had come true. They had kissed. _Finally_. After so long, it had happened! But even better, Haru had kissed _him_!

 

It had started as just another joint practice, nothing out of the ordinary. But Momo had excitedly popped up and suggested that the captains of each team race each other. Rin had rolled his eyes and brushed off the idea - he had no interest in racing Makoto. None. Nada. But, of course, his team encouraged it to the point that their annoying insistence forced Rin to agree just to get them off his back.

It was a simple race, 100m freestyle - possibly unfair, when Makoto's speciality was back crawl - and, considering he had originally paid the idea no mind, Rin surprisingly enjoyed the race (the winning probably helped). It was exciting and invigorating, Makoto putting up some pretty impressive competition. Despite the boy swimming beside him, Rin couldn't tear his thoughts away from the fact he could feel Haru's eyes on his body the whole time. He had pushed out of the pool smugly and shook Makoto's hand, offering him a gentle smile, which - of course - held a great deal of arrogance within it.

"Rin," turning at the sound of his name in that perfectly familiar and suitably emotionless tone, Rin smiled brightly at the expression on Haru's face. He knew there was only one thing that look meant - _he wanted to race._

"Freestyle, I'm guessing." Rin teased, gesturing to the pool subtly. "Unless you maybe wanna actually try-"

"I only swim free." Haru spoke bluntly, stepping up to the starting blocks.

"Some things never change..." Rin murmured, grinning as he took his place beside the beautiful, blue eyed boy. He had recovered from the previous race quickly, as he hadn't really been pushing himself too much, and soon had his mind and body readied to race his favourite opponent.

Nitori had called out the start of the race at Rin's command, and they were soon in the water. Rin had to admit to himself that there was nothing more empowering and exciting than swimming beside Haruka.

The race was over far too quickly, Haru's hand slamming the wall less than a second before Rin's. This caused a chorus of _'ooh'_ s from Rin's teammates, leading him to roll his eyes and look down at the water, panting.

"You swam well." Haru spoke gently, offering Rin the smallest smile.

"Not well enough, apparently." Rin laughed, but he was only partly joking. Haru had frowned when he picked up on this. He leant his arms over the string of floats that divided the lanes and tilted his head as he watched Rin catch his breath.

"You swam well." He repeated gently.

Rin mimicked Haru's movements, their faces now far too close. The room seemed to disappear past their close proximity.

"You swam perfectly." He whispered, his lips holding a slightly sad smile - his expression hinting at jealousy. " _As always_."

Haru's frown deepened at this and Rin had wondered temporarily if he had insulted him in some way. But no. Because a second later, their lips were forced together and Haru was kissing him strongly. In the pool. In front of everyone. With a very distinct lack of subtlety.

Just when Rin's shock subsided and he began to kiss Haru back, the other boy had pulled away and climbed from the pool, heading to the changing rooms, leaving all of the remaining swimmers to stare at Rin with their jaws hanging open.

A few minutes later, when Rin had calmed down his team enough to construct a workable, swim-related conversation and the Iwatobi team had headed to the changing rooms, Haru had reappeared. Fully dressed in tight, black jeans and a zipped up, blue, slim fit hoodie, he had moved smoothly across the room to the exit.

Rin had stopped mid-sentence (much to the amusement of the other swimmers) and was staring, mouth gaping at Haru. Noticing this, Haru flashed him a soft, sexy smile - causing Rin to feel as if his heart had leaped from his chest - and left the pool quickly.

There had been a variety of catcalls from his team as Rin tried to regain any composure that even vaguely resembled a captain-like manner.

"Need a cold shower, Rin?" Sousuke teased, earning him a light punch on the arm from the redhead.

"Whatever." Rin shrugged as if nothing had happened. "As you could probably see, we're gonna have to work even harder to beat Iwatobi at regionals, yeah?"

"I'm sure you have no issues with working harder on Iwatobi." Momotarou had laughed and, if Rin hadn't have been totally lost in his own exquisite thoughts, he probably would've snapped something insulting back, but his mind was busy on far more pressing matters.

"Get back in the pool, Mikoshiba. You've got a lot of work to do if you even wanna come close to Makoto's time." As Rin smirked through the words, he pushed lightly on Momo's bare chest, causing him to lose balance and tumble back into the pool with a loud splash.

Rin hadn't really left the pool since then. He liked it here. It was quiet. And beautiful. And it reminded him of Haru.

"Matsuoka-senpai?" _So much for quiet_ , Rin thought as his eyes flicked up to watch Nitori enter the room shyly.

"What's up, Ai?" Rin yawned, leaning back again, putting pressure on his palms.

"What are you doing?" Ai blushed as he sat beside Rin and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Thinking." Rin replied vaguely, his smile telling more than the word.

"About Nanase-san?" Ai's eyes widened slightly as he spoke.

"Mmhmm." Rin hummed, looking back out over the water. He'd missed having Nitori as his roommate. He was fun and easy to talk to about things like this, despite how irritating he could be sometimes.

"You're happy he kissed you, right?" Ai blushed as he asked the question.

"Yes, Ai." Rin laughed. "Very happy. How could I not be?"

There was a moment of silence before Ai spoke again. "Captain?"

"Please don't call me that." Rin chuckled a little at how weird it still sounded.

"Do you love him?" Ai asked timidly, looking at the floor and ignoring Rin's statement.

"I- Umm..." Rin opened his mouth as if to say something definite, but no sound came out. "Love is... I..."

"I can see that you do." Ai whispered.

"What?" Rin snapped his attention back to the younger boy.

"You've always been so taken with him. And you look... Different when you talk about him." Ai blushed more.

"That's just... He's a talented swimmer and-"

"No, it's more than that." Ai stated strongly, taking Rin by surprise. "You should tell him how you feel."

"I'm not gonna say those words any time soon, Ai." Rin shrugged and flicked his head back around to look over the pool again.

"Why not?" Ai frowned strongly, leaning closer. "It's obvious how much he means to you!"

"Come on, Nitori. Those words... To say you're in love with someone... It's pretty cliché and tacky, right?" Rin shrugged, keeping his eyes on the water.

"It's romantic." Ai whispered.

"I'm not gonna say it." Rin stated confidently.

"You're just in love, senpai. That's not something to be ashamed of." Ai smiled, dropping his legs into the water.

"I don't do 'love'." Rin yawned, feigning carelessness, and closed his eyes.

"You do with Nanase." Ai mumbled, causing Rin to sneak one eye open.

"Haru and I are fine. I don't need a few stupid words to change that." Rin explained quickly.

"You've both so obviously always been in love with each other. We all saw it." Ai was also yawning now. "Some of the others were taking bets on how long it would take for you two to actually..." He trailed off.

"I'm not gonna say it." Rin stated, turning his nose up at the idea. "I definitely won't say I'm in love."

"Why deny it?" Ai raised his eyebrows, genuinely curious. "You obviously have it bad for him."

"Get off my case, Ai." Rin growled, but there was no venom behind the words. He couldn't really stay angry at Ai at the worst of times, let alone when everything was so amazing like today. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I came looking for you, senpai." Ai confessed. "Sousuke said he couldn't find you, so I tried."

"You succeeded." Rin laughed. "But you should get back to bed. We need you at your best."

"Yes, senpai! Sleep well!"" And with those words, he rushed hurriedly from the room.

Rin sighed gently, drifting his fingers through the water and following them with his eyes.

"No way. I'm not gonna tell him I love him." Rin stated to the empty room. But he knew it was true. He was madly and intensely in love with Haru and he had been for years.

"I'm not gonna admit it." Rin whispered, running his wet fingers over his lower lip. "No one needs to know. Ever."

He groaned a little inwardly. He didn't want this. Love sucked and always messed things up. But still, there was no way he could deny it. The sharp ache in his chest when they were apart. The bubble of excitement whenever Haru looked his way. The feeling that could match no other when Haru actually _smiled_ at him. And the sensation of swimming beside Haru. He was in love. He was definitely, crazily in love. And so, he admitted that to himself now.

But still.

Out loud.

Rin Matsuoka would not say he was in love.


End file.
